Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1887-04-09
NELSON'S BEGINNING.
the STEPPING STONE TO THE
SINGERS FUTURE CAREER.

A Young violinist Accompanying He
own Voice 1t . village Fair-Layinl
the Foundation Of III Great Prim,
Donna's Fortune.
In q little hut among tail pines on the q
tate Of Count Hamilton, in Wexio, II
Sweden, the hut, consisting of two rooms
belonging to a poor forester, on Aug. 20, in tn
year 184S, was born . little tow beaded girl
| the youngest of seven children, who neve
I spoke unless especially questioned, but con
tinually sang, trying to initiate the birds O
the murmuring of the waters-in fact, obey
ing an inner impulse to initiate the grea
models of nature, never having heard any
thing else. The Sjoabohl hamlet of Snugge
10 which the part Of the forest belonget
where she had first seen the light OF day. wa
q few miles distant from Wexio. and tn
highest ambition Of the poor children was Il
be able to get to the fair of Wexio and earn !,
few pence somehow in that great town o.
some 1900 inhabitants. In order to reacl
that glorious result, little Christine, who haf
taught herself to play On a small fiddle which
belonged to her elder brother, and which yoG
can see any day you please in the magnificent
mansion she has built for herself in South
Kensington, entered into partnership will
her brother, who was already her inferior q.
a violinist, and they started out together fo1
the celebrated Veto.
AT A VILLAGE FAIR.
On they went, per pedes apostolorum, until
they reached, on their way, Ljung-by Cy
means village), where there was held a small
A~s~ ~rL ~,horo kka u1,~r ~So3;nsct AoOo~r
panied her own voice in the few Swedish
national songs she then had heard and re
tanned in her precocious memory. With
great pride she relates that this, her first open
air concert, brought her the treasure OF
threepence half penny, f%orewarning her Of
the untold wealth which awaited the children
at the town fair. Thither, then, they re.
paired with all the courage that success,
glory and money can give, and arrived a little
tired, but hopeful, at the fair. There waa
suddenly a big audience. who wondered il
the violin played Christine or Christine the
violin. When the admiring crowd assem-
bled it attracted the attention of Mr.. Tor
nerhjeim, the provincial judge, who tried to
find out, as every one of us would. what was
the matter. Well, fortunately for the great
singer, the judge, a man over six feet high,
looked over the shoulders of the people at the
little girl who formed the center Of attrac-
ton; and then he saw and heard, over and
above the scraping of the little fiddle, what
he thought the sweetest and most enchanting
timbre of voice he had ever heard before.
Ahighly educated man, and accustomed to
read in the p~hysiognomy of the people who
were brought before him their character and
probable capabilities, he spoke first to the
boy, then to the little girl, and there and then
laid the foundation of the great prima donna's
fortune by the present of untold wealth-a
Christine, already frightened with
the responsibility Of carrying her Ljung-by
funds, suddenly grown rich beyond her ex-
pectations, with great firmness insisted on
their immediate return to the only place
where so much money could safely be in
vested or deposited-their fathers hut.
THE Ollie DEJoUR.
You can see in one of Christine's great
salons the little skirt, which did not descend
to the ankle, the toilet dejour of her first con-
cert, minus the least bit of shoes or stock
and the cherished portrait of two bons
Suedos-father and mother-in q
rich gold frame, which cost more than a long
series Of concerts at that time could have
brought her.
Although not quite so rich as she became
hereafter, she returned with the first money
earned with her first success in public to her
father, who saw. real and alive, nine and one
half pence, the product of two concerts, in
bis daughters little hand. Strange as it may
appear, the great success and the great fnan-
.ial result remained for a few days without
my further consequences; when, just as a
'econd artistic journey was contemplated, the
aforementioned judge, who naturally had
some difficulty in unearthiDg the where
bouts Of his small prima donna, came
traight upon her father and asked him
would be allow his honor the provincial
Judge to take temporary possession of the
Youngest child. and if she were found to be 50
Intelligent and gifted as she was supposed to
', to give her the education which would
make the name of little Christine
omewhat better known. The father referred
i'm to the mother, as every well bred father
will, and the mother, with that ~abnegation
hat makes of motherly love the only reli-
bic, Notwithstanding love in the
'orld. instantly consented to separate her,
elf from her child-a youngest child to boot
so long as that sacrifice could do the child
ny good. This little preliminary arranged.
1e first important stem in Chrisfina's lifo uoe